Scorecard

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI v Watford Town II on Sun 12 Jun 2022 at 13:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 6 wickets

Match report The return of the Chess Valley league to the Sunday 1s calendar following a number of T20s was undoubtedly anticipated by all of the Sunday specialists in the St Albans ranks, but none more so than Skipper West who was still looking to justify the faith that former holders of this esteemed office, Hall and Winfield, had placed in him on that fateful night in an unconfirmed Sopwell Lane watering hole.

West having set the meet time at 12:00, greeted the majority of his elected squad at the expected time of 12:30. As one wordsmith once penned, ‘like a skippering virgin, (Zach) tossed the coin for the very first time’ but he had to trudge back to his team with the unwelcome news that they would be fielding first. It wasn’t a first time to remember.

With two gun 1XI bowlers at his disposal (although unbeknownst to the skipper, one half of this duo was actually in no physical state to bowl which they had only elected to disclose to him once the game had started), and a number of other good options, bowling first wasn’t by any means the end of the world, and as Badshead commenced his opening spell it only took 3 balls to have one of their openers back in the hutch - feathering one through to the gloves of Winfield behind the stumps.

The left arm-right arm combo of JC and Badshead worked just as Zach had predicted, and they managed to bowl strict enough lines to take the very short tennis court side boundary out of the game for the most part. After a short period of acceleration from the Watford batters, JC struck in his 4th over, and twice in his 7th to put St Albans firmly on top at 57-4 after 13 overs. It could well have been more at this stage, as Ben was unfortunate to have 2 catches dropped - one a one handed screamer at gully from Stu, and the other a slightly more regulation grab at cover.

With a double bowling change bringing spinner Ralfe and Sunday gun Altaf to the fold, a couple of looseners from both took a bit of the pressure off. But both settled in well and restricted runs as they found their rhythm, Nick especially impressing considering his declaration the day previous that he would never bowl spin again - an excellent example of man management from the new skipper as he inflated the confidence of his young spinner, sticking with him for his full allotment of 10 overs which brought with it a return of 3 wickets. It could well of been 4, had Baylis at slip decided to stand at 1st, and not 3rd as Nick induced an outside edge from their attacking left hander. This turn of events could have on another day turned to tragedy, as the batsman then in the next over launched Nick over the short long-on boundary, nearly killing an oblivious dog walker in the process. A reminder that catches sometimes don’t just win matches, they can also keep people safe and in extreme cases preserve life.

The remaining wickets were shared between Altaf, West, and the reintroduced Badshead. West receiving plaudits from JC for the tactic of making the batter think you only bowl pump, before delivering seeds. Watford were cleaned up for 165, a very good effort from the bowlers and high standards in the field (for the most part anyway, here’s looking at you Altaf and Moksy) leaving the game firmly in the Sunday 1s’ hands.

With Moksy deciding a tea time trip to Peri-Peri was in order without informing his skipper, he forfeited his opening spot to Sam Street and he and West set about the chasing duties. After a couple of loose deliveries in the first over were dispatched by West, the opening bowling spells were tight and testing. West then refused a Street run in the 6th over who was forced to fall on his sword (still sorry, but still don’t think there was a run), and Moksy finally joined his captain after his chicken eating escapade. After a few streaky boundaries, Moksy timed the ball excellently racing to 30, assisted by the taking over of calling duties by Zach. West departed for 27 after trying to find the tennis courts, and Stu wasted no time on finding the rope when given the opportunity. He and Moksy despatched the ball with relative ease and brought the first win of Zach’s captaincy into touching distance, a mere formality in the closing stages as St Albans had done nearly all the work in around 25 overs. Moksey’s brilliant 88 and Stu’s 27 were ended by them trying to satisfy their onlooking teammates demands for a big 6 to win the game, giving both Rory and Nick a chance to win it in style - with both missing the ball horrendously.

Nick boringly flayed one through the covers in the next set to bring home the win, and it’s safe to say that skipper West won’t forget the feeling any time soon - a well earned jug for his first winning side was soon poured.

Watford Town II Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 3w 6b  
for 10 wickets
10
165 (36.2 overs)		     
T. Saleem b  J. Curran 14
Faisal ct  J. Winfield b B. Adshead 0
Mahroof b  J. Curran 27
Kami ct  J. Curran b N. Ralfe 41
Habib b  J. Curran 0
Waqas ct  N. Ralfe b A. Hussain 20
Sajid b  N. Ralfe 24
Farham b  Z. West 10
Riz lbw  N. Ralfe 10
Zahoor ct  B. Adshead b B. Adshead 2
Zeshan Not Out  7

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ben Adshead8.2034217.004.08
Joey Curran8.0033311.004.13
Nick Ralfe10.0047315.674.70
Md Altaf Husain6.0030130.005.00
Zach West4.0015115.003.75

St Albans Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 9w 2b 4lb 
for 4 wickets
17
167		        
Zach West b  Habib 27 38 4 71.05
Samuel Street Run out  6 17 1 35.29
Moksudul Islam b  Kami 88 69 15 1 127.54
Stuart Murray ct  Kami 27 24 3 1 112.50
Nick Ralfe Not Out  5 4 1 125.00 1
Rory Law Not Out  0 1 0
Dan Baylis  
Jacob Winfield   1
Md Altaf Husain  
Ben Adshead   1
Joey Curran   1

Watford Town II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

  • Umpire :
    All of us
  • Scorer :
    Stu, and the rest of us